1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer implemented systems and methods for managing relationships between a company and its clients.
2. Description of the Related Art
The adage, “it's not what you know but who you know,” reflects the fact that humans are social animals and we live in a web of relationships with other humans. Opportunities in all aspects of human activity, especially in business, arise through our web of contacts to other people.
In an example of a known contact management system (CMS), information regarding an employee's contacts is entered into a database that is available only to that employee. In many situations, the employee views his/her contacts as personal property and may not wish to share such information with other employees of the company. Contact management systems, however, exhibit network effects wherein the value of the database grows exponentially as the number of contacts increases. From the perspective of the company, having a combined contact management system containing the contacts of all of its employees increases the value of the CMS and institutionalizes the clients to the company. Therefore, there remains a need for systems and methods of contact management at the enterprise level that fully leverages the network effects of individual contacts.